Certain movies and TV shows do not “age well” when seen through the lens of today’s social values. For example, many simply can’t sit through and watch classic movies like “Gone with the Wind” and appreciate them the same way folks did when they were first released. This also extends into the realm of live plays, where the dialog can be a lot more gritty and raw than the movie and tv versions of the same source material.
One such play that’s recently been “cancelled” is “Grease.” However, it wasn’t school officials who called for the cancellation, but rather the students themselves!
Students attending Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) and Scotch College in Perth, Australia, were supposed to produce a joint production of “Grease” in 2022. However, the mounting complaints coming from the student body of both schools led administrators to cancel the musical. And a new play replacing it has yet to be announced.
Cate Begbie, principal at PLC, and Peter Burt, the headmaster of Scrotch College, released a joint statement in November 2021 to announce that “Grease” had been officially canceled because the play’s subject matter was deemed too offensive and sexist by many students. A lot of students specifically took issue with the line “Did she put up a fight” in a song titled “Summer Nights.”
They continued, “Scotch College listened respectfully to the girls’ concerns and both schools agreed a different musical would be better suited for their joint production in 2022.”
However, many parents claim that the complaints did not represent most students but rather a small vocal minority calling for the production’s cancellation. They also believed that the musical could have been rewritten for a more modern audience and should not have been canceled in its entirety.
Olivia Newton-John, an Australian native and one of the stars “Grease,” the movie, spoke out in the past concerning claims of sexism, noting that the film was only for entertainment and was never meant to be taken too seriously.
“I think it’s kind of silly. I mean, this movie was made in the 1970s about the 1950s. It was a stage play, it’s a musical, it’s fun. It’s a fun movie musical, not to be taken so seriously,” she said in an episode of the “A Life of Greatness” podcast in February 2021.
The actress also defended her character, Sandy, and explained that her love interest, Danny Zuko, also goes through a transformation in the movie when he becomes a jock. She said the criticisms of Sandy changing for a man were shortsighted.
“It’s a story from the 50s, where things were different. I know there were some criticisms about me wanting to change to be like him but they forget that he wanted to change to be what I wanted,” Newton-John said.
Newton-John feels that both the musical and the film were not meat to be directed and judged by today’s standards, explaining:
“It’s a story from the 50s, where things were different. I know there were some criticisms about me wanting to change to be like him but they forget that he wanted to change to be what I wanted,” Newton-John said..
You can watch a video about this story below.
Also, you can watch a video exploring a broader discussion concerning cancel culture and Grease below.
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Sources:
- “Two Schools Cancel ‘Grease’ Production After Students Complain It’s Offensive” Apost.